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A French serial killer has been made a formal suspect in connection with the rape and murder of an English student in France 18 years ago.

Joanna Parrish, 20, from Gloucestershire, was killed in Auxerre, in Burgundy in May 1990 – but French police never caught the man who left her naked body in a river.

Today French police named Michel Fourniret, 65, who has admitted killing in the past, and his wife Monique Olivier as formal suspects in connection with the kidnap, rape and murder of Ms Parrish, from Newnham-on-Severn.

The “mise en examen” procedure – similar to the Arguido status in Portugal – will allow detectives to question Fourniret after he goes on trial for seven other murders at the end of this month.

Detective Superintendent Bernie Kinsella, of Gloucestershire Police, who has been aiding French police with their investigation, said: “This news is encouraging and means that Fourniret and Olivier can now be formally questioned about Joanna Parrish’s murder, which is long overdue and is to be welcomed.

“We are continually in contact with Joanna’s family and providing support where possible.”

Ms Parrish’s father Roger, 63, has previously claimed to have seen evidence proving his daughter was subjected to similar abuse as other young girls alleged to have been attacked by Fourniret.

Former forestry ranger Fourniret has already admitted raping and murdering a number of young girls in France and Belgium.

And in a recent letter to police chiefs, Fourniret asked a judge to put him on trial for the murders of Ms Parrish and two other girls – Estelle Mouxin, nine, and Marie-Anghle Domece, 19, both from France.

He reportedly wrote: “I would like to talk to the parents face to face. The risk of my premature death or losing my mental faculties means I cannot leave these three affairs by the wayside. They should be added.”

Ms Parrish was teaching English at a school in Auxerre, during a year out from Leeds University, when she disappeared in May 1990.

She vanished after she went to meet a man who answered her newspaper advert offering private English lessons.

Her body was found the next day. She had been raped, beaten and strangled.

Fourniret’s estranged wife Olivier, who will also face questions, told police in 2005 that her husband murdered Ms Parrish, but this confession has been treated with suspicion.

In November 2006, French prosecutor Francis Nachbar ruled Fourniret would not stand trial for her murder despite admitting he was Ms Parrish’s “most likely” killer.

Mr Parrish, who was enraged by the decision, began talks with detectives about the possibility of gathering forensic evidence.

Mr Parrish, of Newnham-on-Severn, has spent more than £30,000 in his quest to find the killer.

During his long battle to keep the case moving forward Mr Parrish has often despaired at the methods of French investigators. At one stage it emerged that DNA evidence that might have trapped her killer had been lost for 10 years.

The move to charge Fourniret is thought to have been prompted by his accomplice and wife Monique Olivier, 59, giving new evidence to the investigation.